Caroline and The Mystery Man
by Eliza-81
Summary: When Caroline wakes up, she discovers that she’s had a little too much fun last night. But the question is: who with?


Caroline and the Mystery Man  
Written by Eliza  
  
E-Mail: lizzle_81@hotmail.com Rating: PG Genre: General Summary: When Caroline wakes up, she discovers that she's had a little too much fun last night. But the question is: who with?  
  
Author's note: Takes place after the entrance of Joe and Trevor but before the entrance of Julia. But in this case Caroline is not involved with anyone. (I know, I know, Trevor is introduced after Julia, but hey this is my fic, so I choose that she never even existed!( Also, unlike the show, Joe and Lisa are not roommates.)  
Chapter 1  
  
A small ray of sunlight shone through the curtains on Caroline's face. She squirmed at this unpleasant intrusion on her sleep. She turned on her side to avoid the light and tried to get back to sleep. But it was too late, she was already awake now. She slowly opened her eyes. Last night was fun. Annie had thrown her a big party to celebrate her 30th birthday and evidently, for a party arranged by Annie, there had been lots of booze. Caroline's dry mouth and pounding headache reminded her that she too, had had too much to drink. She probably shouldn't have let Annie drag her along with this drinking, but she had fun, so what the heck? She wanted to step out of bed but she then noticed that something was different. What was it? She glanced down at herself to come to the conclusion that she was completely naked. She sat up in shock, pulling the covers up to her collarbone and turned her head to glance at the right side of her bed. The covers had been pulled back and it was obvious the right side of her bed had been slept in. No one was there, though.  
  
"Oh my god!" she exclaimed. "What happened last night?" she asked herself. Her brain furiously started to search for an answer but couldn't find one. She remembered some bits of the party but as soon as she got to the past night she drew a complete blank.  
  
"I need coffee" she mumbled, while stepping out of bed and slipping on her robe. Hopefully, the coffee would wake her up and help her remember what had happened. She walked down the stairs and desperately scanned the room for any clues on what happened last night. She didn't find any. As she was making coffee, her eyes fell on a note on the counter. Finally! An answer to her question. Who was the mystery man? She picked up the note and her eyes flew over the letters.  
  
Dear Caroline,  
  
If last night was a dream, I never want to wake up! You have no idea what this means to me.  
  
I have to go now, but I'll see you later!  
Frantically, she flipped over the note and then flipped it back again, searching for a name, but the backside of the note was blank. Damn. How was she going to find out who wrote this note?  
  
The door swung open and Annie barged in. "Good morning Annie" Caroline greeted absently, still lost in her thoughts about last night. "Coffee?" she offered.  
  
"Yeah, sure." Annie sat down on a barstool. "So, last night was fun, huh?" she grinned, still excited about the party.  
  
"Apparently." Caroline mumbled, while handing Annie a steaming mug of coffee.  
  
Caroline took another mug off the mug tree and then picked up the sugar cubes. Annie sipped from her coffee and grinned.  
  
"Yeah, you must've had a good time, saw you leaving the party with Richie, eh....?" she nudged Caroline and gave her a playful wink.  
  
Caroline's eyes widened and she dropped the sugar cubes in shock, causing them to roll all over the kitchen floor. She was too shocked to even notice.  
  
"I slept with Richard last night?" she choked out.  
  
"You don't remember?" was Annie's question in return.  
  
"No I don't..." Caroline whispered in awe as the realization of last nights' event hit her. She'd slept with Richard. Not that she minded that they'd slept together, she wanted nothing more than that, but not remembering it was what was bugging her. How was it possible that the one thing she wanted to happen had finally happened and now she didn't remember it?  
  
Annie shrugged "Well, maybe that's for the best. You probably didn't miss out on too much anyway."  
  
"Annie! How can you say that?! You know how I feel about him." Caroline scolded.  
  
"Sorry. Force of habit. " she apologized. "Anyway, you'll never guess who I ended up with last night."  
  
Before she had a chance to reveal her latest capture, the phone rang. Caroline picked it up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi Caroline, it's Richard."  
  
"Richard!" Caroline exclaimed. Annie sat up and leaned in to listen to the conversation.  
  
"Um.sorry to bother you on a Sunday, Caroline. Did I wake you?"  
  
"No, I was already up. Why?"  
  
"Well, I figured you needed some sleep, you know,... after last night."  
  
Annie scoffed and Caroline gave her a playful slap on the arm to quiet her.  
  
She then focussed on the conversation again.  
  
"I'm sorry Richard, you were saying?"  
  
"I just wanted to check how you were" he replied.  
  
"Well, I'm fine, but why did you leave? You could've stayed you know.." she said coyly.  
  
"Oh, come on Caroline! I thought that by now you'd be sober enough to realize that last night was a big mistake. Anyway, I think it would be best if we never mention it again and just make a fresh start on Monday." "-.....Caroline?" he asked when there was no answer from the other side.  
  
Caroline froze and she just stood there, unable to respond. It had meant absolutely nothing to him! He just thought of her as a one-night stand. When the words 'one-night stand' began to sink in, they somehow made her feelings of confusion disappear. Though they were immediately replaced with a biting and agonizing pain that welled up in her chest. She felt tears sting in her eyes and she blinked to stop them.  
  
"Caroline?" Richard pulled her back to reality.  
  
"Um...but Richard, don't you think we should talk about this?" she asked desperately.  
  
"Well, sure if you really want to talk about it, but I don't think it's such a big deal. I think it's best if we just move on. Fine then, I'll drop by later today, okay?" he then hung up the phone.  
  
Caroline stood in shock for a moment, not even removing the phone from her ear. Annie walked to the other side of the counter and looked at her with concern.  
  
"What's the matter, hun? What did he say?" She took the phone from Caroline and placed an arm around Caroline's shoulders. Caroline tried to blink back her tears, but failed. She then hugged Annie for comfort.  
  
"Shush, shush, it's okay. Just tell me what he said." she said sweetly while guiding Caroline into the living room.  
  
"He said we should pretend it never happened! I mean nothing to him, Annie! I don't understand why he would leave me such a sweet note and then tell me to never mention it again. It doesn't make sense." Caroline gestured to the note that was still on the counter.  
  
"It doesn't make any sense to me either" Annie agreed while reading the note. "But I guess I was right about him all along. Just forget about him Caroline, he's like all men, just a big selfish jerk!"  
  
"How can I forget about him, Annie? I love him!" Caroline yelled.  
  
"That may be so, but he's not worth it if he treats you like this. You know what? Just fire him when he comes in on Monday."  
  
"That may not be such a bad idea." Caroline smiled awkwardly. "And I won't even have to wait 'til Monday. He's coming by later today to talk about it."  
  
"Oh, so he agreed to talk about it?"  
  
Caroline nodded in response.  
  
"Okay, let me know how it went, I have to go now. I have a matinee. We'll talk later. Are you gonna be alright?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess." she said softly.  
  
Annie headed for the door. She opened it and glanced over her shoulder. "Take care sweetie. We'll talk about this some more when I get back, okay?"  
  
Caroline just nodded again and Annie left. She started to cry again and she lay down on the sofa to calm down. Still exhausted from last night though, she quickly fell asleep. A few hours later, the phone woke her up. She rolled over and reached for the phone on the cedar chest.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi, it's Del."  
  
"Oh hi, Del."  
  
"So, are you coming or what?" he asked.  
  
"Coming where?" she asked in confusion. She had no idea what he was talking about.  
  
"Oh man, you forgot? Didn't you get my note?"  
  
Caroline sat up. "What note?" she asked nervously.  
  
"The one I left on the counter, didn't you find it?" Del said, totally unaware of the confusion he had just created.  
  
Caroline closed her eyes and rubbed her face. What was happening? If Del was the one who had left her the note, did it mean that she hadn't slept with Richard after all.?  
  
"Um..Del, about the note.." she started.  
  
"Don't tell me you changed your mind?" he asked desperately. "Please don't tell me you made a mistake last night! You can't just give me hope and then change your mind again!"  
  
Caroline sighed. How could this get any worse? "Look Del, let's not discuss this over the phone. Where are you? I'll come over." she said calmly.  
  
"I'm at Remo's. We were supposed to meet for lunch today, remember?"  
  
"Oh, right." She pretended to remember, she didn't feel like discussing this at all. But she needed to settle this with Del. When she hung up the phone, she just sat there for a moment. What a mess! What had she done last night? She didn't want to get back together with Del, so why did she sleep with him? She got up and went into her bathroom to take a shower. While she was in the shower she tried to get her thoughts into order. If Del was the one she'd slept with, then what the hell was Richard referring to when he said they should just forget about 'last night' ??  
  
On one hand she was disappointed that Richard hadn't been the one to leave her the note but on the other hand she was sort of relieved that he didn't turn out to be the selfish jerk she thought he was.  
Chapter 2  
  
When she got to Remo's, Del was still waiting for her. As soon as she came in, he got up and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"It's good to see you again." he smiled. They sat down at their table. "I must admit, you had me a little worried when you didn't remember our lunch date today. I hope you do remember last night?" he winked.  
  
"Um..well actually Del, I'm sorry to have to tell you this but last night was a mistake. I know it's no excuse, but I was really drunk. I'm sorry if I gave you hope but we're not getting back together." Caroline bent her head a little, occasionally glancing up at Del to see his reaction, but not really wanting to.  
  
Del sat back and arched his eyebrows. "Back together? I don't want to get back together with you, Caroline."  
  
Caroline leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table. "You don't?" She sighed. "Wow, that's a relief. I thought you wanted to get back together after what happened last night. Well, I guess we can just forget it ever happened then." she smiled with relief and opened the menu, not noticing Del's puzzled look.  
  
He reached out and gently pushed down the menu Caroline was holding, forcing her to look at him. "Forget about it?" he asked in disbelief. "Caroline, I need to check if we're talking about the same thing here. Not that I doubt you, but you seem a little disoriented today. What exactly do you want to forget about?"  
  
Caroline felt heat rushing to her cheeks. She lowered the menu and swallowed. This was so embarrassing. "Well, um...we didn't sleep together then?" she asked hesitantly.  
  
Del's eyes widened. "What?? No, of course not! My god, Caroline, you think we slept together? You should be assigned a chaperone if this is what alcohol does to you!" he then laughed at the helpless expression on her face. "Well, since you were under the impression that we slept together, I wonder if you'll find the truth a relief or not." he grinned.  
  
Caroline rested her head in her hands and sighed. "What, then?" she asked. Things couldn't get any worse than they were right now.  
  
"Last night you agreed to support my company financially!" he said with a broad smile on his face. "The party was almost over and you were sitting over there", he pointed to a table across the restaurant "and when I told you about how much trouble the company was in, you just offered to help me out! It was almost like a dream, you saved Eagle Greetings!" he exclaimed, then became hesitant. "That is, if you haven't changed your mind?"  
  
Before she could reply, or even had a chance to think of one, Remo arrived at their table to take their order. "Ah, Signor Del, Carolina, how are we today? Great party yesterday, huh?"  
  
"Fantastic." Caroline muttered sarcastically, still dazed by her latest discovery.  
  
"Yes, you seemed to enjoy yourself." Remo agreed. "Tell me, are you and young Dr. Joe getting back together? You seemed rather cozy last night."  
  
"Nooooooo!" Caroline cried out in disbelief, banging her head on the table in frustration.  
  
"You don't remember that either, Caroline?" Del asked. "It's true. It looked to me as if you guys were back together."  
  
"Oh my god.." she whispered. "This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" she asked rhetorically. "Look Del, I'm gonna go home right now and figure this out. I can't discuss anything with you until I know exactly what happened. We'll talk about this later." She got up and took her coat that hung over the back of the chair. She slipped it on and strode out of the restaurant, too consumed with confusion to say goodbye to Remo, or Del for that matter. Remo and Del were left in total confusion. They exchanged a look of incomprehension, then both shrugged and Del started to study the menu while Remo turned to serve the other costumers.  
  
Once she got to her apartment she started pacing, desperately trying to reconstruct the events from last night. Okay, what happened? First they went over to Remo's and they all had dinner. After that there had been dancing and drinking. Lots of drinking...  
  
And then... She had no idea. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't remember. Finally she decided that she should just go back to bed and forget this ever happened.  
  
She dragged herself upstairs and just when she wanted to let herself drop onto her bed, she spotted something she hadn't noticed before. On the floor next to the bed was a piece of clothing. She slowly kneeled and picked it up. When she got up and looked at the item of clothing in the light, she recognized it. It was a dark-gray sweater. She knew that sweater, she'd seen it many times before. It even smelled familiar. When she realized whose sweater it was, she simultaneously dropped it to the floor again, bent her head back and looked up as if asking 'why'? "This is not happening" she moaned. What was she going to do? The sweater she just found was Trevor's...  
Chapter 3  
  
"Caroline?" Annie called from downstairs.  
  
"Thank god." Caroline mumbled, grateful for Annie's return. Now she finally had someone to discuss this with. She bounced down the stairs to welcome Annie.  
  
"I'm so glad you're here Annie!" Caroline said when she got down. "So many weird things have been going on and I don't know what to do anymore."  
  
"Okay, spill." Annie flopped onto the couch and pulled up her legs. Caroline sat down on the armrest of the couch and turned to face Annie.  
  
"It's not Richard." Caroline stated.  
  
Annie made a face. "What do you mean?"  
  
"It's not Richard." Caroline repeated. "It turns out I didn't sleep with Richard last night." she clarified.  
  
"Then who did you sleep with?" Annie asked in surprise. She rose to sit on her knees. "C'mon, tell me!" she begged when Caroline didn't reply straight away.  
  
"Trevor." Caroline mumbled under her breath.  
  
Annie leaned forward. "What? I didn't hear you."  
  
Caroline jumped up. "Trevor, alright?!" she yelled in frustration. "Or at least I think.." she added softly.  
  
Annie got up too and approached Caroline. "What do you mean, 'you think'?"  
  
Caroline started pacing again. "I just don't know anymore, Annie. First I thought it was Richard, then I thought it was Del, then Joe, and now Trevor??!!?! Honestly, I'm never ever gonna drink again!" she let herself drop onto the couch again and rested her head in her hands, raking her hands through her short red hair.  
  
Annie tried to repress a smile. Caroline had gotten herself into such a mess. It was so bad, it was almost funny. "Well um. hun, I can at least help you out with one thing. I don't know who you slept with, but it wasn't Del. 'Cause um..he was with me." she added quickly.  
  
Caroline raised her head. "You??" she asked incredulously. "Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"Well, I was about to, but then Richie called. Also, I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it. You're not mad, are you?" she asked softly.  
  
Caroline shook her head. "No, of course not. But I already figured out it wasn't Del. Great, only three possibilities left." she mumbled more to herself than to Annie.  
  
Annie sat down next to her but before she could say anything, the door opened and Richard entered.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" he asked when he saw Caroline and Annie together on the couch.  
  
"Nope, come on in!" Annie got up. "I think you two have some talking to do" she said on her way out. Without saying anything else she brushed past Richard and left.  
  
"Are you sure I'm not interrupting?" he asked again.  
  
"No, it's fine. Come on in." she said awkwardly.  
  
"Well, okay then." He hung up his long overcoat and walked over to the couch. "I got the feeling last night still bothered you" he explained, "and since you thought we should talk about it, I figured it was probably best not to leave this until Monday." He sat down next to her.  
  
What was she going to do now? How can you discuss something when you don't know the main subject? She needed to let him do most of the talking, just until her memory came back and she knew what exactly had happened between them the night before.  
  
"So, um.Richard, would you mind clearing up something for me first? Could you tell me a little more about the party?"  
  
"Why? You don't remember?" he seemed a bit surprised at first, but then became understanding. "Well, that figures. I have never seen you so drunk." he grinned. "Okay then, I'll fill you in about the first part of the evening and then we can talk, okay?"  
  
Caroline nodded. Right now she'd agree with anything, as long as she could get some clarity. Richard started talking and as he told her more about the party, it slowly came back to her. It was like a film playing inside her head. First it was all blurry and clouded, but slowly the mist disappeared and she remembered more and more.  
"Another one?" Annie slurred. She tried to retain her balance as she brought Caroline another glass of rum.  
  
"Sure, why not?" she brought the glass up to her lips, took a gulp and set it down on the table. "Who wants to dance?" she shouted, slowly scanning the room for volunteers.  
  
No one responded. Most people didn't even hear her, and the ones who did, pretended they hadn't. "Richard!" She spotted Richard who was sitting at the bar with his drink. He tried to distance himself from the party as much as possible. He glanced at the clock again, hoping he could soon get home. The only reason he even came was for Caroline. She waggled over to him. "You wanna dance, dontcha?"  
  
He turned slightly. "No, not really Caroline, you'll just have to ask some one else." He turned back to the bar and raised his glass to take a sip. He didn't get a chance though, 'cause Caroline took his elbow and pulled him to the dance floor.  
  
"Come on! Don't be such a poop!" she whined. She slid her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. Richard immediately tensed and pulled back. He took both her arms by her wrists and removed them from his neck.  
  
"No, Caroline. I won't dance with you. I think you should just sit down for a while, maybe have a cup of coffee. You've had way too much to drink."  
  
"You're no fun!" she dismissed him and turned on the heel of her foot. She bumped into Joe. "You wanna dance, dontcha?" she repeated.  
  
"Sure" he answered. He placed his hands on her hips and they started dancing. Their dance soon became very intimate.  
  
The other guests noticed and stared at them, wondering why Caroline was suddenly so close with her ex again. Richard watched them in jealousy and disgust. "Come on, Joe" he thought. "You know how drunk she is, she doesn't even know what she's doing anymore."  
  
When the song ended they sat at a table in a corner and Caroline snuggled up to him. They seemed very cozy together. Richard rolled his eyes and turned around again. He didn't want to watch this anymore. It was too frustrating to look at.  
  
Del noticed them and, unobservant as he was, he walked over and joined them. Caroline and Joe didn't seem to mind and Caroline rested her head on Joe's shoulder as they spoke to Del. Suddenly, Joe's cell phone rang and he excused himself before walking outside to answer the call.  
  
Caroline slid down in her chair and glanced over at Del.  
  
"So," he asked "How are you enjoying the party?"  
  
"It's great!" she said, overenthusiastically. "Everyone is so nice to me! Except for Richard, who is being a party pooper again." she added, glancing over at him and making a dismissive wave with her arm. He didn't notice, he was sitting at the bar with his back turned to them.  
  
"Yeah," Del agreed. "Don't know what he's depressed about this time. Honestly, there are people with bigger problems than him." he looked at Richard.  
  
"Really? Who then?" Caroline asked.  
  
Not expecting any further questions, Del turned his head to look at her. "Oh, you wanna know?" He turned serious. "Well, me for example. Eagle Greetings is in such a mess! I think I'm even gonna have to go out of business."  
  
"So, what now? You need money?"  
  
"Yeah big time, or my company is gonna go down the toilet."  
  
Not really realizing what she was saying anymore, she carefully leaned forward and said: "Well, how about I lend you some money then?"  
  
A surprised look spread across Dels face. "Really? Caroline, that's incredible! Are you sure?" Without waiting for a response he continued "Wow, am I dreaming? You just saved my company! You have no idea what this means to me!" Del scanned the room for Charlie and when he spotted him, he beckoned Charlie to join them. "Charlie, come on over! You have to hear this, Caroline is gonna financially support Eagle Greetings!"  
  
"That's what friends are for..." Caroline muttered, not even aware of what Del was saying. She rested her chin in her palm.  
  
"Okay then, let's go over some of the details." Del proposed, while Charlie skated over and joined them at the table.  
  
Trevor, who had overheard Del's announcement to Charlie, stood up abruptly and walked over. "That's it!" he scolded "Del, she's in no condition to discuss things like this or even promise anything like that, surely you can see that? I'm taking her home right now!"  
  
He helped her get up, and Caroline, drunk as she was, let Trevor drag her to the door. Del walked after them. "Hey, wait a minute, I think I should at least get another chance to talk to her about this!" he then turned to Caroline "How about lunch tomorrow, Caroline? At Remo's?"  
  
"Sure." she breathed.  
  
Trevor then started dragging her out of the restaurant. Richard noticed and got up from his seat.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where are you taking her?" he asked.  
  
"I'm taking her home, Richard. She has got to get to bed before she does more stupid things. She almost invested in Del's company!" He rolled his eyes.  
  
"Look..um, how about I take her home? I was just about to leave myself and I need to pick up something there anyway."  
  
Of course it wasn't true, but he didn't want Trevor to take her home. In the condition she was in, she was liable to get back together with him, just like that. He didn't want that possibility to occur, especially after seeing how quickly she had gotten 'cozy' with Joe earlier tonight. She had to be really drunk to do something like that.  
  
"Okay then." Trevor agreed and carefully passed the drunken Caroline over to Richard. He pulled her arm around his shoulders and circled his other arm around her waist to support her as they made their way over to the door.  
  
"Hang on!" Trevor called after them. "It's cold out" he indicated the thin spaghetti-strapped shirt Caroline was wearing. He took off his sweater. "Here, have her wear this."  
  
"Thanks Trevor." Richard said, then left the restaurant with Caroline.  
  
"Where's Joe?" Caroline mumbled when they got outside.  
  
Richard looked around, but he didn't see him. Joe had stepped outside to answer a phone call just before, but now he wasn't there anymore. "I don't know, Caroline."  
  
She didn't reply but instead she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.  
  
"Let's get you home then." he said and started walking again, dragging Caroline along, hoping to hail a cab.  
Chapter 4  
When they finally got to Caroline's apartment, Richard was exhausted from dragging her along. Sure, once she was in the cab it was easy, but getting her in and out of the cab and now dragging her up to her apartment was the tiring part.  
  
Richard brought her over to the couch and laid her down. He wanted to get up but she had wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and wouldn't let go.  
  
"Um.Caroline, you'll have to let go of me now." he said nervously.  
  
"Why?" she slurred.  
  
"Because..you have to get some sleep and I have to get home." he stated firmly. He took her wrists and tried to remove her arms from his neck. His words made her mood change from careless and happy to sad and emotional.  
  
"Please don't go, Richard" she begged. "Don't leave me alone tonight."  
  
He sat down next to her on the couch, her arms still around his neck causing their faces to linger close to one another. He sighed. He wanted nothing more than to stay with her, but he also knew it would be wrong if he stayed. She didn't mean it, it was just the alcohol talking. Caroline gazed up at him and a wave of desire rushed through her. She was drunk, she knew that, but the alcohol hadn't numbed her feelings for him. On the contrary, they seemed to have gotten stronger because of it. She wanted nothing more than for him to stay with her tonight.  
  
"I'm sorry, Caroline. I can't. I have to..-"  
  
His words were silenced by Caroline, who suddenly leaned in and kissed him full on the lips. Instinctively, he kissed her back and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her close and she removed one arm from his neck and let it slide down his back. Their kiss grew with intensity and his longing for her became stronger and stronger. Without breaking the kiss, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to the stairs.  
  
When he was about to ascend the stairs, he suddenly broke away from the kiss. Caroline gazed up into his eyes, not understanding why he stopped and not wanting him to. "What's wrong?" she asked.  
  
He carefully set her down. "I'm sorry, Caroline I can't do this. You're drunk, you don't know what you're doing, I can't take advantage of you like this." He backed away to the door. "I've already let it go too far, I'm sorry. I think it's best if I just go now."  
  
"No, Richard wait!" Caroline objected. "I..-"  
  
"Caroline, it's for your own good." he interjected. "Let's just never mention it, okay? You should just get some sleep now. I'll see you on Monday." With that he left, leaving a disappointed Caroline behind.  
  
"Great, he picks now to be the perfect gentleman." Caroline mumbled to herself. With the alcohol intensifying every emotion, she now felt so rejected and alone, she could cry. Instead, she walked over to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine.  
  
"What?" she asked Salty who was sitting on the counter, staring at her. "One more isn't gonna hurt." she rationalized, then emptied the glass in one gulp. "Just one more" she promised herself, while pouring another glass. Hopefully it would be enough to numb the pain and loneliness she felt right now. She really wanted to be with Richard tonight and he left her, just like that.  
  
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Richard!" she exclaimed. Maybe he'd realized his mistake and had come back. She made her way over to the door as quickly as possible, but with her head spinning so badly it was hard to walk straight. She swung the door open and stared up at Joe.  
  
"Hi there" he greeted as he entered her apartment. "You just disappeared, just while we were getting so cozy.." he said flirtatiously while circling his arms around her waist and pulling her close for a kiss.  
  
First Caroline tensed, but soon she welcomed his attention to her and kissed him back. The kiss immediately grew passionate and completely filled the void inside her that Richard had left. Or at least, that was her intention. She kissed him back hungrily and soon they stumbled upstairs. When they got into the bedroom, they started tearing at each others' clothes. Caroline briefly broke away from the kiss to remove the gray sweater she was wearing and tossed it on the floor behind her. She then reached for his belt buckle and returned to their kiss before they fell into bed together.  
  
"Caroline?...Caroline!" Richard waved his hand in front of her face and tried to get her attention again.  
  
Caroline snapped out of her reverie and her eyes widened. "So that's what happened!" she exclaimed. "That's how Trevor's sweater got in my bedroom.." she muttered to herself.  
  
"Caroline, what are you talking about?" Richard gave her a puzzled look. When he had told her about the party she seemed to have trailed off and when he got to the part where she was about to invest in Del's company, she didn't even seem to hear him anymore. It had taken him a while to get her attention again. He looked at her questioningly, having no idea what she was mumbling.  
  
She looked up. "So you and I didn't....-" she whispered.  
  
"Didn't what?" he asked, still not knowing what she was talking about.  
  
She bent her head down and tried to ignore the scarlet blush that spread across her cheeks. She inhaled deeply and then quickly breathed out, "sleep together.."  
  
"What? No, of course not!" He seemed rather shocked.  
  
A wave of disappointment rippled through her body. The idea seemed to repel him. "You don't have to say it with such disgust like that." she said softly.  
  
Alarmed, Richard moved a little closer and grasped her hands. "Disgust? No, no, Caroline, that's not what I meant! What I meant was..um well, why did you think that?"  
  
A bit more at ease, Caroline smiled. "Well, because I did something really stupid last night. It's a long story but I thought I had slept with you but it turned out I spent the night with Joe." she carefully glanced up at him, not sure what his response would be.  
  
"Joe??" he dropped her hands in shock.  
  
She covered her eyes with her hand. "I know, it was really stupid, I never should've let it happen and it didn't even mean anything but I was very drunk and...-"  
  
"Caroline." he interrupted, ".you don't owe me an explanation."  
  
"I know I don't" she said quietly "but I want to explain. The reason I slept with Joe was because I felt lonely." She looked up at him and grasped his hands again. "I missed you." she added softly.  
  
They locked into a stare for a moment and then started leaning in for a kiss.  
  
Suddenly there was a knock on the door and they jumped quickly apart again.  
  
Caroline got up and opened the door. "Hi." Joe greeted. "Oh, hi Richard." he said as he noticed Richard on the couch.  
  
"Caroline, um... I think we need to talk about last night."  
  
"I agree" she said as she ushered Joe out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.  
  
"Before you say anything" she started, "I want to apologize. I was unbelievably drunk last night."  
  
"So, what are you saying? It was a one-time thing?" he asked hesitantly.  
  
"Yes."  
  
Joe sighed. "Wow, that's a relief. I was afraid you wanted to get back together or something." he laughed.  
  
"Gee, thanks for being so sensitive about this, Joe." Caroline replied sarcastically.  
  
"What? You just said it was just this one time, right?" he asked, not understanding why she felt offended all of a sudden.  
  
"Yeah, but." Caroline wanted to explain, but then changed her mind. What did it matter anyway? "Oh, just leave it. You go and have fun." she told him and gave him a pat on the chest.  
  
Joe turned and pushed the elevator button. "Okay, great. I'm gonna go see Lisa now, she called this morning." he announced before stepping into the elevator.  
  
"Okay" Caroline replied and turned around to enter her loft. With the knob already in her hand, she changed her mind and turned again.  
  
"Lisa?" she asked in confusion, but the elevator doors had closed already.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Joe crossed his arms in front of his chest as he waited for the elevator to reach the ground floor. He was glad Caroline hadn't made a big deal about what happened between them last night. Even though he and Lisa weren't really together at the moment, he didn't want what happened with Caroline to ruin a possible reconciliation. He had seen Lisa a couple of times the past few weeks and they were still really good friends. She even sounded like she too might be interested in becoming more than friends again when she called him this morning. His thoughts wandered off to their phone call.  
  
Startled by ringing, Joe sat up in bed. He glanced to the left side of the bed to see Caroline lying there, fast asleep. He bent over the side of the bed and reached for his jacket that was on the floor with the rest of his clothes. He frantically searched the pockets for his cell phone that was still ringing. He glanced over his shoulder to see if the noise wasn't waking Caroline, but she didn't seem to hear it.  
  
"Hello?" he said softly.  
  
"Joey! It's Lisa!" she called out in her usual overenthusiastic tone.  
  
"Oh hi." he whispered. In the meanwhile he stepped out of the bed and collected his clothes. He tip-toed out of the room.  
  
"Why are you talking so softly?" Lisa asked.  
  
"Oh, no reason." Joe said in a normal tone now. "So, how are you?" he walked down the stairs and when he got down he pinned the phone between his shoulder and his cheek and started to put on his pants.  
  
"Good, but I was hoping I could see you today. I miss you" she added childishly.  
  
"Well, you were the one who cancelled our date last night, remember?" he said, referring to her phone call while he was at Caroline's party.  
  
"I know, I'm sorry." she pouted. "So, am I forgiven?"  
  
"Sure" he smiled. He started to tie his shoelaces. "How about I meet you at your place say, the end of the afternoon? I have to work until then."  
  
"Okay sure." she said happily. "See you then."  
  
Joe switched off the phone and slipped his shirt on. A quick glance at his watch told him he was already late. "I'll talk to Caroline later today then." he promised himself, then left. He decided to take the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. Just as he disappeared out of sight, the door to Annie's apartment opened and Del stepped out, followed by Annie in her robe.  
  
"So, I'll see you later then?" he asked.  
  
"You bet." Annie answered and gave him a quick kiss goodbye. She closed the door and Del turned to leave, but he changed his mind and stopped. He looked at Caroline's door. He was still very excited about her offer to help him save his company. He decided not to wait until lunchtime, but to go by there now to talk to her. When no one answered the door he used his emergency key and let himself in. Caroline was nowhere in sight. Too bad, he thought. He really wanted to thank her for her generous offer last night. He figured she was probably still asleep, which was a good thing, considering how much she drank last night. He walked over to the counter and picked up the notepad. He decided to just leave her a note instead and started scribbling down his message for her on the notepad.  
  
"Dear Caroline,  
  
If last night was a dream..."  
  
When he finished the note he quickly left her apartment again. They'd have plenty of time to talk this over properly when they would meet for lunch at Remos, later today.  
When Caroline noticed that Joe was already gone, she turned again to enter her apartment. What did it matter, really? So what if he got back together with her? Last night was a big mistake after all so it was probably a good thing they both went on with their lives. When she entered the room, Richard looked up from the couch.  
  
"So,..is everything allright?" he asked hesitantly, not sure how to ask her about it.  
  
Caroline approached him but then stood still. "Yeah, everything is okay." she nodded nonchalantly. "He's getting on with his life and I'm getting on with mine. We're just going to forget it ever happened."  
  
She turned serious and sat down on the cedar chest across from Richard. "You know Richard, um.what you said over the phone this morning, that last night was a big mistake and that we should just forget about it...you didn't mean that, did you?" she asked expectantly.  
  
"No, no of course not. It's just that..well I was under the impression that the only reason you wanted me to stay with you last night was because you were drunk. I figured you'd feel pretty stupid and embarrassed about coming on to me, so that's why I offered to forget about it." he said, his gaze directed to the floor.  
  
"Well, you were wrong." Caroline corrected him. "It was very sweet and noble of you to just go home but you really didn't have to."  
  
He looked up and nodded. "Yeah, I know that now. But still, if something did happen between us, I'd like to be sure that you're completely lucid." he grinned.  
  
"This lucid enough for you?" she asked playfully. She slid her arms around his neck and got up to sit in his lap before she gently kissed him. He kissed her back and the kiss quickly grew passionate. Caroline took his hand and they got up, only briefly breaking away from the kiss. They slowly moved to the stairs but when they were about to ascend, Richard pulled away from the kiss again.  
  
"You're not going to walk out on me again, are you?" she asked hesitantly.  
  
A small smiled formed on his lips. "No, I was just wondering if you're going to remember it this time" he joked.  
  
She gave him a playful slap on the arm. "You bet I will.." she smiled seductively and then pulled him close again.  
  
The end. 


End file.
